by Douglas Messier
Chief Editor

Earlier this week, NASA Inspector General Paul K. Martin presented the House Space and Aeronautics Subcommittee with the results of his office’s latest analysis of the old effort. space agency’s decade-long effort to return astronauts to the moon, otherwise known as the Artemis program. The results were mind-boggling, depressing and not at all surprising.

We’ll start with the eye popping, which came in the form of a series of numbers:

• $53 billion: amount NASA will spend between fiscal years 2021 and 2025
• $93 billion: amount NASA will have spent since fiscal year 2012 (when work on Artemis began in earnest) and fiscal year 2025
• $25 billion: amount that NASA excluded from budget estimates through fiscal year 2025 for work beyond the Artemis III mission
• $4.1 billion: cost to launch each Space Launch System (SLS) and Orion spacecraft in the first four missions
• Hundreds of billions of dollars: Likely amount NASA will spend on the crewed Artemis and Mars missions over the next two decades.

“Our detailed review of the Artemis program contracts revealed that its costs were unsustainable. Given our estimate of a cost per launch of the SLS/Orion system of $4.1 billion for at least the first four Artemis missions, NASA needs to accelerate its efforts to identify ways to make its Artemis-related programs more affordable,” Martin said in his writing. testimony. “Otherwise, relying on such an expensive single-use heavy rocket system will, in our view, impede, if not derail, NASA’s ability to sustain its long-term human exploration goals of the Moon and Mars. In addition, the Agency has seen significant growth in the costs of mobile launchers, spacesuits and, to a lesser extent, the Gateway.”

Another unsurprising discovery is that Artemis’ ever-shifting timeline is likely to slip even further to the right. NASA plans to launch SLS and Orion on the Artemis I uncrewed mission to the moon by this summer. However, the IG said there would likely be a two-year gap until the next flight with astronauts on board.

“With Artemis II, NASA faces additional schedule delays – until at least mid-2024 – due to the second mission’s reuse of Orion components from Artemis I. Finally, given the time required to develop and fully test the HLS and NASA’s next-generation spacesuits needed for lunar exploration, the date for a crewed lunar landing will likely slip to 2026 at the earliest,” Martin said.

The return of American astronauts to the Moon would thus take place at least a year or more beyond NASA’s current plan to land them on the surface in 2025.

“The Artemis program lacks transparency. In particular, NASA does not have a complete and accurate estimate of all the costs related to the Artemis program. Since NASA has not defined Artemis as a formal program as part of the Agency’s spaceflight program and project management requirements, an estimate of full life cycle costs at the scale of Artemis is not required. Instead, NASA’s disparate programs and projects individually submit budget estimates through their divisions and directorates to the Office of the Chief Financial Officer,” the IG said.

Nothing in Martin’s testimony was new. NASAS IG and the Government Accountability Office have come to similar conclusions in a series of reports dating back many years.

Martin suggested that NASA encourage more competition and move away from cost-plus contracts where companies can charge more as the program progresses to fixed-price contracts where they must deliver for the amount specified. in the contract. The space agency used fixed-price contracts on the Commercial Crew and Commercial Cargo programs.

“With emerging capabilities provided by business partners, the Agency may have future options that can help control costs to achieve its exploration goals,” Martin said in his testimony.

The shift to electric arc furnace steelmaking will ultimately reduce Algoma’s carbon footprint by approximately 70%, positioning the steel company as one of the leading producers of green steel in North America. North.

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Creating the “greenest” steel products and doing so with results such as less noise and waste and cleaner water and air is the goal that will help Algoma reduce its environmental footprint through its modernization.

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Algoma Steel held an annual environmental open house on Monday to share its environmental management programs and focus on the changes that will occur as the steelmaker evolves into steelmaking processes at the same time. electric arc in the years to come. A notice of the event was distributed to every household in Sault Ste. Marie and Prince Township.

The shift to electric arc furnace steelmaking will ultimately reduce Algoma’s carbon footprint by approximately 70%, positioning the steel company as one of the leading producers of green steel in North America. North.

In the end, this project is presented as the largest greenhouse gas reduction in Canada. This will also result in reduced emissions from fewer sources to air and will have fewer effluent discharges to water.

The transition requires new and amended or revised environmental permits from the Department of the Environment, said Fred Post, Algoma’s director of environmental monitoring.

“This requires changes to our waste water approval, a new air and noise permit, and new and amended site-specific standards that will allow us to transition to new electric arc furnace production,” Post told the SaultStar.

Revised site-specific standards are required for benzo(a)pyrene, benzene and particulates. In 2021, the Minister requested changes to the air emissions model and although Algoma’s emissions did not change, the emissions modeling method did.

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A new site-specific standard is also required for sulfur dioxide, as Algoma does not anticipate being able to meet the new provincial standards that will come into effect in July 2023, but anticipates that these standards will be met when transitioning to manufacturing sulfur dioxide. electric arc steel.

The permitting process is a thorough application process that begins with air emissions modeling that demonstrates compliance with the regulations.

The open house was part of the public consultation process required as part of the permitting process.

Post said it was expected the process could take up to a year and a half to receive the permits, which must be in place before the transition in the steelmaking process takes place.

Algoma expects to meet the necessary criteria to obtain these permits without any problems, Post said.

“Essentially, we are working with the government to make sure we meet all the requirements they have set and if there is an issue that we face, we will find a solution through this process,” a- he declared.

“At the end of the day, this project has a huge reduction in greenhouse gases and a large number of contaminants, so it’s environmentally positive and unlikely to have any major setbacks from an environmental perspective. permits,” he said.

Brenda Stenta, Algoma’s Director of Communications, said the project is new and exciting for the community and a strong turnout at the North Community Center meeting room was expected.

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She explained that as the transformation evolves, Algoma will meet and exceed all government emission levels in all facets of its operation.

Lower costs, increased competition, increased liquid capacity limits to 3.7 million tonnes and reduced carbon tax costs are all among the benefits of modernizing the manufacturing process of steel, Stenta said.

“We know the market is going in this direction. Our customers are looking for low carbon products and this will enable us to provide these products to them,” she said.

Construction of the new buildings needed for the process is now in its early stages and the transition is expected to begin in April 2024. The phased process will see the increase in electric arc furnace steel as the coking processes decrease and eventually to cease.

Mayor Christian Provenzano said he is staying in touch with the Algoma executive and understands the modernization process and the impact it will have on greenhouse gas emissions.

“I think this is a really important project, not only for Algoma Steel and its long-term sustainability, but also for the health of our community and the environment,” Provenzano said.

He said there are encouraging targets and foresees significant reductions in output once the switch to the new technology begins.

Provenzano said it’s important for the community to be informed of the changes and he encourages people to do so.

“I’m encouraged by this project,” he says. “Making steel as we have done for 100 years has a heavy impact on the environment. Things are very different today than they were 100 years ago and I think this project signifies a major change for this company. It also means that the company understands the importance of changing its processes and becoming more sustainable and I think it achieves both.

The open house is not the only opportunity for the public to comment on the project. Hard copies of the comment sheet were available at the open house and other comments can be emailed to Algoma Steel or can post comments on the Environmental Registry once the project is posted, Stenta said.

Information is available on the Algoma Steel website.

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Intel on Thursday presented investors with its future roadmap for graphics accelerators, which plans to blur the lines between integrated and discrete graphics.

The chip giant said it will ship its discrete desktop Arc GPUs, codenamed Alchemist, in the second quarter of this year. Arc GPUs will appear in laptops by then in Q1. Workstation-grade components are expected in Q3.

“We have received a very enthusiastic response from our partners who have already won more than 50 designs from major OEMs and add-in board vendors,” said Raja Koduri, senior vice president and general manager of Accelerated Group. Computing Systems and Graphics at Intel, in a recorded speech for the Investor Day Conference.

Alchemist discrete GPUs will ship with Alder Lake and Raptor Lake processors to be unveiled by Intel this year. Intel’s Arc GPUs will get really interesting starting next year with its GPU codenamed Battlemage, which will ship with the upcoming Meteor Lake processor and its next-generation CPU architecture.

Battlemage GPUs will be integrated as an array of chips — Intel calls them tiles — alongside other chips containing processor cores and supporting circuitry, all contained within a single large Meteor Lake processor package. This approach comes as Intel moves to advanced manufacturing nodes in which compute tiles can be stacked vertically and linked by high-speed interconnects.

“Meteor Lake is a brand new architecture that will allow tiled GPUs to be integrated on a 3D package. This is super exciting, as it allows us to deliver discrete graphics-class performance with the efficiency of integrated graphics,” Koduri said. It’s a new class in graphics that can’t be called integrated or discrete, he said.

“This is just the beginning of the strategic advantages that this tiled architecture will give us. We’ll talk more about that in the future,” Koduri said.

Intel may have an early advantage over tiled GPUs as it will be the designer and manufacturer of its own chips. Nvidia is a fabless company that relies on third-party fabs and hasn’t talked about developing tiles to slot alongside x86 cores in future PC chips.

Nvidia did not respond to request for comment on its plans to develop tiles to complement its discrete and integrated GPU products.

Intel outlines the coming years

Intel has already started working on its graphics architecture for beyond 2024, code name Celestialwith the goal of achieving graphics leadership “in every segment we compete in, from low-power mobile workstations to high-performance workstations,” Koduri said.

Intel’s graphics division is continuing the metaverse with a software project called Endgame, which will provide users and developers with access to Arc GPUs as “a continuous, always-on, low-latency, persistent, and immersive computing service,” it said. said Koduri.

Intel will share more details about Endgame this year. But reading the tea leaves, Arc GPUs could be used as bare metal in PCs or remotely in the cloud to run metaverse applications that include gaming, animation, and visualization. Nvidia offers this through its Omniverse Platform, a largely closed metaverse platform that includes hardware and software products from Nv.

“With the combination of our silicon platforms with Endgame, we anticipate that Intel and the PC platform will continue to thrive as we usher in the metaverse,” Koduri explained.

The executive leads a division formed last year and is targeting the broader accelerated computing market, with processors not sufficient to meet the computing needs of graphics, supercomputing and artificial intelligence.

The division’s product roadmap includes supercomputing chips such as Ponte Vecchio. Koduri is targeting $10 billion in revenue by 2026 through its initiatives. The total addressable market opportunity will reach $155 billion by 2026, it is hoped.

“We are focused on the $100 billion opportunity in silicon platforms. Our strategy is to collaborate and openly participate with the ecosystem for the remaining $55 billion in system software and services,” said said Koduri.

It then attempted to take a shot at rival Nvidia, which dominates the supercomputing and AI space and has an early lead in the metaverse opportunity.

“This is in stark contrast to the approach taken by our main competitor today. They aim to eat away at the ecosystem. Although their closed proprietary approach may have short-term benefits. We do not believe a closed approach is scalable long term running for this big opportunity,” Koduri said.

Nvidia did not respond to requests for comment on Koduri’s quote.

In a separate speech, Intel’s senior vice president of software group Greg Lavender said the company is the largest contributor to the Linux kernel and employs more than 120 maintainers of key open source technologies. Lavender also reaffirmed Intel’s commitment to open source with things like its OneAPI.

But in recent years, the company has scaled back its Open Source Technology Center, its public face of the open source movement. The register has reported extensively on Intel’s secret Software Defined Silicon (SDSi) initiative in which Intel staff members have posted hints on the Linux kernel mailing list regarding new features in which users may have to purchase licenses to enable features physically present in processors not available for use out of the box.

Intel is a wonderful member of the open source community and contributes extensively to projects with OneAPI, networking components and more, said Michael Larabel, Linux software engineer and founder of Phoronix, which tracks Linux kernel contributions.

“Intel’s secrecy about enabling new features isn’t new, but more often than not their work on new features tends not to be controversial like SDSi,” Larabel said. The register.

Larabel has mixed feelings about SDSi, as Intel hasn’t provided preliminary details, which has sparked speculation and concern.

“It looks like future processors with SDSi are arbitrarily restricting certain features until after the fact ‘license’ will be pursued and what pricing will look like,” he said.

Intel tries to release kernel source code for new hardware support and feature enablement early before chip launches, which means it’s not necessarily very open with all the details. Its current goal may be to conceal these features to avoid ruining launch buzz or competitor analysis, Larabel commented.

“So while initially some areas may not be effectively communicated with early patches, at least support is working ahead of time to allow time for integration into the Linux kernel and major distributions,” a- he concluded. ®

• Program for children at risk currently underway, launched in five pilot states, Borno, Sokoto, Gombe, Kaduna, Ekiti

The only way to ensure the long-term peace and prosperity of our communities is to invest in our children by providing them with opportunities to thrive and be productive in the ways they choose, thereby giving them the hope for a better future.

These were the words of Vice President Yemi Osinbajo on Thursday during the Children at Risk Program ARC-P Stakeholder Summit at the Statehouse Banquet Hall, Abuja.

Professor Osinbajo noted that the federal government has taken a multidimensional approach to address the challenges facing vulnerable people in society, especially children and youth, nationwide, with various intervention programs.

These include the National Poverty Reduction and Growth Strategy Committee, which was inaugurated by President Muhammadu Buhari with the goal of lifting 100 million Nigerians out of poverty in 10 years. The Children at Risk Program (ARC-P), housed in the Office of the Vice President, is one of the Committee’s initiatives.

Speaking at the event themed “Last mile interventions for vulnerable people”, Professor Osinbajo noted that the program “is the start of a journey to bring relief and hope to millions of vulnerable young people”. .

“The ARC-P is an important part of the variety of government interventions designed to complement and support the existing initiatives of the Buhari administration to address the issues of vulnerable children and youth,” the vice president said.

Professor Osinbajo noted that the central aim of the children at risk program is the idea that every Nigerian child matters, noting that the ARC-P “aims to give a new life to millions of children who, without for lack of their own, found themselves without hope or support.

“A nation will ultimately be measured by how it treats its most vulnerable citizens. We recognize that we cannot progress as a people, while a significant portion of our children – those to whom the future belongs – are left on the margins of society, deprived of the opportunity to discover and fulfill their potential. “, did he declare.

The vice president added that the program “will provide a safe space for the mentoring and training of these children, with particular emphasis on basic literacy and numeracy, health and nutrition, entrepreneurial skills, digital, sports and life skills, among other skills.”

Highlighting other intervention programs of the Buhari administration, the Vice President said, “In 2019, the President made two crucial policy statements. The first was the government’s plan to lift one hundred million Nigerians out of poverty within a decade. The second was the strict enforcement of laws on free and compulsory education for all children at the primary level. The President pointed out that it is a criminal offense in Nigeria to fail or refuse to enforce the law.

“In the same year, the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development was established to implement the government’s highly successful social investment programs, in addition to humanitarian assistance responsibilities, security and disaster management.

“In 2016, the Rule of Law Advisory Team was established within the Presidency. One of the main tasks of the team was to ensure that, in accordance with the Prohibition of Violence Against Persons Act, there was effective coordination of responses to sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) cases. . Since then, the team has supported the establishment of SGBV response teams across the country.

In addition to the federal government’s multifaceted approach to addressing these concerns, Professor Osinbajo called for holistic government collaboration at all levels, federal, state and local, to deliver greater impact; especially since primary and secondary education and health are constitutionally functions of the state.

The ARC-P, which started in five pilot states, Borno, Sokoto, Gombe, Kaduna and Ekiti, also focuses on training young educated but unemployed youth from each of the local government areas (LGAs) on skills basic.

These various skills, including basic literacy and numeracy, entrepreneurship, financial literacy, trades, agriculture, sports, life skills, digital skills, should either prepare the target beneficiaries (children of primary age) at school, or enroll older children in school. cooperatives, in order to pursue their favorite vocations.

Congratulating the President’s Special Advisor for Social Investment Programs and ARC Program Coordinator, Hajiya Maryam Uwais, and her team for their passion, hard work and commitment to the project, the Vice President also acknowledged and thanked the state governors. pilot states.

He also recognized development partners, the private sector, civil society, who have identified with ARC-P in what he described as a “renewed effort to positively change the fortunes of young people and children in risk across the country.

The Vice President further stated that “local government authorities, as well as our religious and traditional institutions, have also been instrumental in the successful start of the program for children at risk.”

“We especially commend the Governors of the pilot states, Borno, Sokoto, Gombe, Kaduna and Ekiti, and other state leaders who have expressed interest in joining this multi-stakeholder effort to bring hope to millions of young people. marginalized Nigerian citizens on the country.”

Professor Osinbajo insisted that all the efforts of stakeholders at different levels of government and society “must be aligned to work in tandem, particularly because they must be approached in a way that engages also with other health and empowerment deprivations”.

Attending the event were state governors: Dr. Kayode Fayemi, Ekiti; Engineer Abdullahi Sule, Nasarawa; and Muhammadu Yahaya, Gombe. There were also members of the Federal Executive Council, federal legislators, heads of MDAs, members of the diplomatic corps, development partners, among others.

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By: Eldred Thomas / GNN Senior Reporter

The Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), a US government development finance institution, recently signed a letter of commitment for a $ 20 million direct loan to International Bank Liberia Limited (IBLL) to support lending sectors in the country.

Sectors include construction, services, manufacturing, agribusiness, hospitality and transportation.

According to a dispatch from the United States Embassy, ​​the project seeks to create jobs and opportunities by supporting investments in key economic areas and increasing long-term lending to the Liberian private sector.

CIPO CEO Elizabeth L. Littlefield signed the letter of engagement alongside IBLL CEO Henry Saamoi and CEO of Pan African Capital Group, LLC, Stephen D. Cashin.

During a visit to Monrovia, a group of US and international executives on a business development and investment mission to help increase opportunities on the continent. The Liberian banking sector faces a number of critical challenges, the report observed.

This loan facility will allow Liberia’s economy to grow organically and the financial services sector to expand banking services, expand long-term credit facilities, support macroeconomic growth and reduce debt. poverty, and connect Liberia to the global financial system.

The dispatch quotes CIPO President and CEO Elizabeth L. Littlefield as saying she was thrilled to be working with IBLL on their facility.

The OPIC facility, the report said, will enable IBLL to fill a gap in the market by providing customers in the road infrastructure construction, manufacturing, agribusiness and other industries with credit facilities. long term that will enable these clients to make a significant contribution to Liberia’s economic recovery.

For his part, the Founder and Managing Director of Pan African Capital Group, Stephen D. Cashin, expressed his enthusiasm, stressing that he is proud to work with OPIC on its lending facility, and expressed his confidence in the lending facility. ‘OPIC and in IBLL; one of the strongest and most profitable commercial banks in Liberia.

Mr Cashin added his optimism that with its young, energetic and committed Liberian management team, IBLL will continue to grow as one of the country’s leading financial institutions.

The founder and CEO of Pan African Capital Group said he was proud of where he came from as a bank, surviving the trials and tribulations suffered by the country as a result of the civil crisis and followed by the scourge of disease Ebola virus. , seeing with conviction that the young and energetic management team has demonstrated a real commitment to success.

During the signing ceremony, IBLL President and CEO Henry F. Saamoi also spoke, who expressed his appreciation for the start of such a journey and such a partnership.

CIPO President and CEO Elizabeth L. Littlefield travels through Liberia and Sierra Leone this week with a delegation of U.S. leaders to meet with government officials and business leaders and identify opportunities investment in the region as it continues to rebound from the Ebola crisis.

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The association defined its position for lobbying purposes, with the aim of persuading governments to provide more money to civil engineering contractors.

The publication, Infrastructure: the roadmap for growth, will be used by the ECSC in its meetings with MPs and other political figures during the next party conference season, and in the run-up to the Chancellor’s Fall Declaration.

ECSC Director of External Affairs Alasdair Reisner said: “Our members have told us what steps the government can and must take now to get the economy back on track and bring UK plc back to growth.

“The governments of Westminster, Holyrood and Cardiff have all released plans that recognize the importance of infrastructure to the economy and have started to pave the way for long-term investor confidence. Infrastructure: the roadmap for growth sets out the steps that must be taken to ensure that these plans are met.

“Too often, the basic need for infrastructure is blocked by short-term policies. We want all parties to recognize that the vital need to improve UK transport and public service networks should go beyond party politics.

“We also want future infrastructure investments to be more balanced across the UK, helping to rebuild local economies across the country. To do this, we will need to attract new forms of funding and funding, which can only be achieved with the right models in place.

“Finally, where there are opportunities to stimulate industry growth and activity more directly, these should be seized. The ECSC calls on the government to allocate new resources through contracts for the repair and maintenance of existing infrastructure in order to give an immediate boost to the economy.

CECA recommendations include:

• Provide immediate short-term funding to stimulate out-of-the-box repair and maintenance activities

• Rebalance infrastructure investments across the UK

• Develop inter-party consensus on an infrastructure policy of national significance and a long-term delivery program

• Ensure that appropriate funding and funding models are in place to meet future investment needs

• The implementation of a local infrastructure financing model to develop work programs rather than delivering projects on an ad hoc basis, and to share the costs of investing in infrastructure among all those who benefit from it.

• Extension of borrowing powers to the Scottish and Welsh governments, including the possibility for the Scottish government to issue bonds

• Local business partnerships in England will be urged to focus more on providing infrastructure to drive growth

Routes

• Create an established long-term strategic road investment program

• Establish a “proactive” maintenance regime for roads based on lifetime value.

• Engage in a nationwide roll-out program for ultra-low emission vehicle infrastructure

Rail

• Build on recent improvements in rail procurement to implement collaborative delivery models across the industry

• Use greater visibility on future investments to ensure a high performing and globally competitive rail supply chain

Energy

• Commitment to a long-term UK energy policy that does not discourage much-needed investments

• Continued focus on policies to ensure that the first new nuclear power plants in England and Wales start generating electricity from 2020

• Thorough review of the UK renewable energy roadmap to ensure the 2020 target is met

• Efficient management of shale gas extraction through the implementation of best operational practices, enforced by regulations

Water

• Commissioned a feasibility study to examine bulk water transfer options across the UK

• Smoothing of investments in the water sector to remove the current boom and bust cycles

• Implementation of uniform water skills standards on the site

• Mandatory sustainable drainage to reduce the risk of flooding

Purchasing reform

• The financing of public bodies must be linked to their implementation of the principles of good practice in procurement.

• Steps should be taken to streamline prequalification through the adoption of standard questionnaires developed by industry

• Framework contracts must be concluded in such a way as not to disadvantage certain contractors compared to others.

Workforce

• Full financing of apprenticeships in civil engineering at all levels, regardless of age

• Increased funding for the development and qualification of the existing workforce to promote retention and enable work in new and emerging markets

• Expansion of the pre-learning model and wider deployment of the shared learning program to allow more companies to train the next generation

• Creation of a demand model for infrastructure workforce and skills to provide accurate information by specialty and locality

Security

• Implementation of the recommendations of the reviews Lord Young and Professor Löfstedt

• Formation of an independent body to settle disputes involving breaches of health and safety legislation.

Environment

• Consolidation of existing environmental legislation

• The creation of a monitoring body to ensure a uniform and appropriate application of environmental legislation.

• The creation of a legal obligation for the design of the construction to incorporate measures to reduce waste

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